Strongarm hit on what seemed like a brilliant idea.
She and Grimlock dragged Bumblebee to the side of the road, and then she had Grim position himself to stand over Bee and told him to look ferocious, then freeze whenever a vehicle came by. She hoped that would make him look like a model dinosaur attacking a model robot, making people think it was some sort of advertising campaign for a movie or something.
Strongarm had been surprised and confused the first time she'd seen a gaudy display like the one she was now trying to replicate, but Bumblebee had taken it calmly and tried to explain it to her. She now hoped she'd understood better than she'd felt like she had that day.
"I don't understand how this is hiding," Grimlock had confessed.
"Fortunately, you don't have to. Just do it."
It was with tremendous reluctance that Strongarm left Grim and Bee. Her limited first aid training left her woefully unprepared for this, but she was fairly certain that Sideswipe was in worse shape than Bee. But what if she was wrong? What if she shouldn't move either of them, instead bringing Fixit to the scene? What if Bumblebee and Sideswipe died?
The road had seemed smooth driving out, but now she felt every little bump and jolt through her tires. Each one made her cringe as it wrung a quiet whimper from Sideswipe. It seemed that he had heard her when she explained her plan, or at least understood the need to be as still and quiet as possible. Even so, his body was wracked by spasms, each one shook the trailer and Strongarm felt them all through the hitch; they all felt like the end of the world and she feared each might be the last.
She drove as fast as she could while remaining as inconspicuous as possible and being mindful of the roughness of the road. She passed only a few cars, but she could feel the suspicious eyes of the drivers on her, questioning, wondering; and she was terrified they might somehow guess what they were looking at. She knew the need for those from Cybertron to remain undiscovered, though there were aspects to it that she suspected she didn't understand.
Bumblebee had spoken once, and then only briefly, of an organization known as MECH. The organization was a human-based one. Since it had been disbanded and never been intentionally or directly a part of the war, historical records made no mention of it.
Strongarm wondered what could be so terrible about humans that Bumblebee should feel the need to tell her how to identify them or those like them, but distressed enough not to elaborate. Could humans really be so dangerous? She'd never really thought so, but now every car she passed seemed to have a human occupant that could be made of pure evil. She was panicking, and knew it, but couldn't stop.
Some back corner of her mind was working though, telling her where to turn and when to stop.
She'd radioed ahead to Fixit and Denny were there waiting when she arrived.
Fixit pulled himself up onto the trailer and gave Sideswipe a quick once over before nodding to Strongarm to carry the now unconscious Autobot from the trailer to an out-of-the-way corner of the scrapyard which would now serve as the infirmary.
Without Grimlock's help, it was difficult for Strongarm to be gentle in moving Sideswipe, but he didn't seem to feel it. Maybe he couldn't feel anything. He was dead weight in her arms, utterly limp and almost unmanageably unbalanced and heavy as a result.
But somehow Strongarm got him across the yard and set him down. She knelt to put him down, and stayed there for a brief moment, suddenly indecisive and unwilling to leave him. She steeled herself, told herself that Sideswipe was in good hands, and there was nothing she could do for him now.
"I'll be back soon," she whispered, though she felt certain he could not hear her.
With a curt nod to Fixit, she returned to the trailer, transformed and headed out to retrieve Bumblebee. She would then have to make a third trip to get Grimlock, who couldn't get back unnoticed on his own.
As she was leaving, her radio crackled to life with a message of doom that seemed to freeze time.
"They're back! They've come back!" it was Grim's voice, but there was an unnatural fear in it.
Maybe Grim didn't understand much, but he knew when he was in mortal danger. Strongarm abandoned caution and launched herself out into the road, swinging the trailer behind her.
Now it was really a race against time.
How long could Grimlock hold out against three Decepticons, the same three that had taken down Sideswipe and Bumblebee in a matter of seconds?
If they are Decepticons, she thought, because she really wasn't sure.
Grimlock didn't understand why the passing cars didn't seem to see him when he stood very still over Bumblebee, but he held onto blind faith in the intelligence of Strongarm. She was smart, certainly smarter than he was. She seemed to think this would work and, so far, it had.
Even when cars weren't passing, Grimlock continued to stand over his fallen leader, guarding against he really knew not what. He didn't actually expect the snakes to come back, nor did he think any Decepticons knew where they were. Still, he didn't relax for an instant, instead standing tense, his head turning sharply this way and that, his optics searching for any movement, any foreign object, anything even slightly suspicious.
He was fairly accustomed to being alone. Before joining up with the Autobots, Grim had spent a great deal of time on his own in a world he didn't fully understand. Even though he'd been on Cybertron, that world had not been made for him. It was too complicated, and even on Cybertron he had felt too big, awkward and clumsy. All he really knew was fighting. He was good at that.
But that had been his undoing. That was why he'd been locked away. He'd been labeled a 'bad guy', though he didn't really understand why. His affinity for destruction had betrayed him, and it was the only skill he had. That one talent was not understood or appreciated by most, some even mocked him for it. Absolutely no one had ever given him a chance to try and do better.
Until Bumblebee.
It was Bumblebee who had given him probation. He didn't really know what that was, but he did know it meant a second chance, and not being locked back into a stasis pod.
Whatever he did or did not comprehend, Grimlock knew kindness when it happened to him, and the concept of loyalty was very much in his grasp. He had no intention of letting any further harm come to the only bot to ever believe in him, to ever place any sort of faith in him, to ever trust him and value him just for being what he was, instead of being angry about what he wasn't and could not be.
The rest of the Autobots had accepted him, but only because Bumblebee gave them no other choice.
When he needed to be, Bumblebee could be every bit as ferocious and aggressive as Grimlock. More so, even. But, just because he was a fighter, it didn't mean that was all Bumblebee was. That Bumblebee could be a warrior and a tactician gave Grimlock hope that he could learn to be more than he was, to be... better than he was. He was scared to death that he was about to lose all that.
If Bumblebee died, would Grimlock have to go back into stasis? Was probation tied directly to Bumblebee? Would that chance disappear if the one who had given it was gone?
Perhaps that was a selfish way to think, but it was the only logical process Grim could manage right now, out here by himself with the smartest, most compassionate Autobot he knew depending on him for survival. He couldn't afford to screw this up.
And then he saw them. Just one at first, then the other two. The hateful black, silver and red snake cars were back. He growled and shifted his weight, but didn't move.
Should he go and fight them? Or should he stay where he was?
He decided to radio Strongarm. Maybe she could tell him.
"They're back! They've come back!"
She understood, "I'm on my way; just hang on!"
Sure, but hang on to what?
He decided that he had to charge. They were coming right for Bumblebee, and Grimlock could not permit that. He had to stop them. And so, he did what he knew how to do.
With a mighty roar, he dug into the dirt at the side of the road with his claws, then sprang, his weight shifted to the front, legs powerfully propelling him forward, mouth agape. He did not need to transform in order to fight. Here and now, he would use his teeth to end this.
The enemy in the lead increased speed and leaped, all four tires left the ground as the unmistakable sound of gears turning, pistons working, metal plates shifting and snapping into a new position heralded the transformation to follow. The vehicle was once again a serpent.
Grimlock got a sense that the snake was speaking. It buzzed and hissed, but nothing intelligible came forth from its gaping maw. As it reached the point at which the snake and dinobot must inevitably collide, it twisted sideways in the air, dodging Grimlock's open jaws and then snapping its head around with the intent of biting him with its slender fangs.
But Grim leaned to the side just in time to prevent the fangs from finding their mark between armor plates. The tips of the fangs grazed his armor plating, but the only result was a hideous shriek of metal against metal. A colorless liquid dripped down between them and splashed onto the asphalt.
Grim roared again, attempting to turn and face the serpent. His own momentum worked against him, and only by lowering himself almost to the ground did he manage to halt his forward movement and redirect it towards where the serpent was now coiled and waiting. Half its length was raised above the ground, and the wicked head was drawn back to strike.
Grim realized his mistake at the last second and veered sharply left, narrowly avoiding the venomous fangs that suddenly flashed out as the snake threw its head out with a muscular thrust of its body. The tongue licked out, and the sharp tips touched against armor.
Grimlock barreled on past the snake, then stopped and glanced at his haunch, checking for damage.
He seemed to be unhurt, though the forked tongue had scraped two thin lines of paint off, as the fangs had removed some from the shoulder earlier. But he was still up and ready to fight.
Grimlock shook himself and roared as loudly as he could.
By this time, the other two snakes had shed their vehicular skins and were twining their upper bodies about each other, hissing and burring to themselves. The snake which had actually attacked seemed to have made this fight her own, and the others would not interfere.
Grimlock preferred a fair fight. He shook himself again and growled.
He was actually starting to have fun, but was determined not to lose sight of what was at stake here.
He glanced briefly at Bumblebee, who lay silent and unmoving. The serpents followed his gaze.
Looking straight at him, the largest of them hissed something, but he didn't know what.
He could guess though. This was a fight to the death, and Bumblebee's life hung in the balance.
Grim tensed, then sprang, once more charging his adversary.
The serpent watched, waited, biding her time, letting Grimlock come to her.
Let the dinobot do all the work, it was she who would strike the final blow. She was in no rush, she had waited this long, a few more minutes made no difference.
Let the fool exhaust himself. She could wait.
Bumblebee could see the world unraveling before his eyes, but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't move when Sideswipe went down, couldn't speak when the serpent told Strongarm to run while she had the chance, couldn't warn Grimlock that the snakes had come back, couldn't tell him to get out before it was too late, he couldn't tell Grimlock that one spit from that snake would leave him paralyzed and unable to fight, that it was just playing with him before moving in for the kill.
{Come, lumbering one. Come... and meet your end,} she taunted, her silver tongue flashing in and out of her mouth, {Lachesis is here for you. Come.}
Bumblebee had never heard the name 'Lachesis' but, based on the serpent's speech pattern, it was reasonable to suppose that she was referring to herself in the third person. She was Lachesis.
Grimlock showed absolutely no comprehension, she spoke in a tongue that was foreign to him.
Basic speech had been the first language of Cybertron, if historical records were to be believed. But then Cybertronians developed more sophisticated methods of communication and largely abandoned this base language. It had fallen into disuse, then faded from memory. During the war, it had been standard for every soldier to learn basic speech. At one time, it had been used as code, until both sides had learned it. But now it seemed as though it had once again disappeared.
It came as a shock to Bumblebee to realize that neither Strongarm nor Grimlock spoke that tongue. Chances were, Sideswipe didn't either. When Bumblebee was their age, everyone was fluent in the language. Heck, when Bumblebee was their age, he spoke only that language.
Thinking about that gave him an idea. If he could force out basic speech through a mangled voice box, maybe he could manage to speak now even through the paralytic which had frozen his systems. He knew what a Cybertronian medical professional would probably have to say about that, but mercifully there wasn't one here to impose scientific fact upon a situation calling for sheer force of will.
He felt a profound hesitation, as a victim of a plane crash might be reluctant to fly again. Irrationally, he felt terror at the thought of returning to that hated speech for fear of never being able to speak normally again. He didn't want to go back. He didn't want to do this again.
Carefully, he laid aside the feelings, gathered himself, and managed a blast of incoherent noise before settling into the uneven buzzing of that ancient speech that had lain half-forgotten in the back of his mind for so very long.
Grimlock jerked as though he were the recipient of an electric shock and turned towards Bumblebee. Grim couldn't understand, so Bee directed his remarks to Lachesis.
{Leave him alone! If you have a problem with us, bring it to me. I'm the leader of this team. So take it out on me, whatever it is. Just leave Grimlock alone!}
Lachesis lowered her head without lowering her body, pointing her muzzle sharply at Bumblebee. Bee stared up the tear-stain silver grooves and into the fiery coals of the serpent's eyes.
{Come and stop me then,} she waited, but of course Bumblebee didn't move; he couldn't, {You have no power here, Scout.}
Bumblebee wanted to scream 'Now, Grim! While she's distracted!' but he knew it would be a futile effort, because Grimlock didn't understand. Even if he could have, Grim simply didn't have the reaction time of Lachesis; surely she would respond before he did.
Grim stood there dumbly, looking from Lachesis to Bumblebee and back again. He had no idea what they were doing, or how Bumblebee had made that sound. He did nothing until Lachesis returned her attention to him. She hissed and flicked her tongue, Grim roared in response and ran towards her.
{Grimlock, no!}
Too late this time, Grimlock realized his mistake. As he swept past her, Lachesis leaned to her left, then whipped her head around. The long fangs slipped between the plates of armor at his right knee.
The fangs wedged in the joint prevented it from extending as Grim had intended. His weight came down, but his leg wasn't there to support it. With a roar of astonishment, Grimlock tumbled sideways, dragging the serpent with him as he staggered, fighting to keep his balance.
Doubling back along his own body length, Grim threw his weight to the left to stay upright, at the same time closing his jaws around the back of the serpent. There was an audible crack, and it seemed for a moment as though he had broken her back. But what he had actually broken was one of her venom fangs, which remained lodged in the knee joint of his armor.
Lachesis reacted instantly. Her head flew like an arrow towards Grim's face, the remaining fang clanged harshly against his muzzle. The attack failed, but startled Grim into releasing the serpent. She fell to the ground on her back, deftly twisted her form right side up and slithered away from the raging dinobot, who stumbled backward, shaking his head miserably.
Weapon's fire suddenly cut across the tarmac. Strongarm had arrived to help. She missed Lachesis entirely, and the giant snake hissed, then spat at her. Strongarm tucked and rolled, and the snake's paralyzing toxin missed.
Grimlock was flexing his leg, trying to free the metal tooth that prevented him from standing properly. He hopped backward in the direction of Strongarm, snarling and keeping a wary eye on the other snakes.
All three were moving now, their movements perfectly synced, their strategy as obvious as it was deadly. Swiftly, they separated, turning back to come at Strongarm from three different directions.
She couldn't hit all of them.
